Caterer mums boost school meals take-up

The number of meals being eaten at a school in Swindon, Wiltshire, has more than quadrupled after two mums took over its catering contract.

Pam Shipperbottom and Laura Isley set up their own contract catering company, Let's Do Lunch, when they heard the kitchens at Lethbridge primary school were closing.

The business launched at the start of term and is already proving a success. Just 40 children used to eat school lunches before the takeover, but last Tuesday (7 September) 180 children sat down to eat.

Shipperbottom and Isley want to get the children eating locally grown organic produce.

Catering manager Jeanette Orrey, who helped Shipperbottom and Isley set up the company, said the success of the scheme showed that the Government needed to aim its healthy-eating campaigns at primary schools rather than the secondary schools it was focusing on through its Healthy Living Blueprint for Schools.

"It's indefensible the Government is not doing anything with primary schools," said Orrey. "It's starting from the wrong end."